GOP Lawmaker Doesn't Care If The Death Penalty Involves 'Being Fed To The Lions'

In an interview with the Associated Press published Saturday, Christian said Clayton Lockett's case did not sway his support for the practice.

"I realize this may sound harsh," Christian told the AP, "but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."

According to a Thursday report unveiled by Oklahoma's state prisons chief, Lockett died Tuesday night of an apparent heart attack 10 minutes after his execution was halted. Director Robert Patton said Lockett had an intravenous tap put in his groin after officials searched for 51 minutes to find a suitable vein elsewhere. That vein collapsed, and the state ran out of additional doses of drugs used in the procedure.

Prior to the execution horror, Fox News reported Monday that Christian spearheaded an effort to impeach Oklahoma state Supreme Court justices who were aiming to delay Lockett's death. After the incident Tuesday, Christian released a detailed statement, explaining how the botched execution was "unfortunate," but the "real takeaway" was Lockett's killing of a teenager.

BEFORE YOU GO

Lethal Injection

AP

Until 2010, most states used a three-drug combination: an anesthetic (pentobarbital or sodium thiopental), a paralytic agent (pancuronium bromide) to paralyze the muscle system, and a drug to stop the heart (potassium chloride). Recently, European pharmaceutical companies have refused to sell drugs to the U.S. for use in lethal injections, requiring states to find new, untested alternatives.

Gas Chamber

AP

Gas chambers, like this one pictured at the former Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Mo., were first used in the U.S. in 1924. In the procedure, an inmate is sealed inside an airtight chamber which is then filled with toxic hydrogen cyanide gas. Oxygen starvation ultimately leads to death, but the inmate does not immediately lose consciousness.

Electric Chair

AP

The first electric chair was used in 1890. Electrodes attached to an inmate's body deliver a current of electricity. Sometimes more than one jolt is required.

Hanging

AP

Hanging was used as the primary method of execution in the U.S. until the electric chair's invention in 1890. Death is typically caused by dislocation of the vertebrae or asphyxiation, but in cases when the rope is too long, the inmate can sometimes be decapitated. If too short, the inmate can take up to 45 minutes to die.

Firing Squad

AP

This Old West-style execution method dates back to the invention of firearms. In a typical scenario in the U.S., the inmate is strapped to a chair. Five anonymous marksmen stand 20 feet away, aim rifles at the convict's heart, and shoot. One rifle is loaded with blanks.

A punishment for men convicted of high treason, "hanging, drawing and quartering" was used in England between the 13th and 19th centuries. Men were dragged behind a horse, then hanged, disemboweled, beheaded, and chopped or torn into four pieces.

Slow Slicing

Carter Cutlery/Wikimedia Commons

Also called "death by a thousand cuts," this execution method was used in China from roughly A.D. 900 until it was banned in 1905. The slicing took place for up to three days. It was used as punishment for treason and killing one's parents.

Boiling Alive

Wikimedia Commons

Death by boiling goes back to the first century A.D., and was legal in the 16th century in England as punishment for treason. This method of execution involved placing the person into a large cauldron containing a boiling liquid such as oil or water.

Crucifixion

Wikimedia Commons

Crucifixion goes back to around the 6th century B.C.used today in Sudan. For this method of execution, a person is tied or nailed to a cross and left to hang. Death is slow and painful, ranging from hours to days.

Burning Alive

Pat Canova via Getty Images

Records show societies burning criminals alive as far back as the 18 century B.C. under Hammurabi's Code of Laws in Babylonia. It has been used as punishment for sexual deviancy, witchcraft, treason and heresy.

Live Burial

Antoine Wiertz/Wikimedia Commons

Execution by burial goes back to 260 B.C. in ancient China, when 400,000 were reportedly buried alive by the Qin dynasty. Depending on the size of the coffin (assuming there is one), it can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours for a person to run out of oxygen.